nasa's solar sail system
nasa's solar sail system
Impression of a solar sail NASA is about to do something it has never done before: launch an experimental solar-sail spacecraft as the primary payload on its own rocket. This is a monumental project that takes important strides forward in space exploration technology by harnessing sunlight for propulsion. Since many years, scientist have been in favour of the concept of solar sailing but it would only persuade when finally this space mission comes into working an can start changing how spaceships are navigated to traverse through (sail)...
The Physics Of Solar Sails
Reflecting Solar Sails: Radiation Pressure from the Sun Instead of relying on fuel, as with traditional propulsion systems, solar sails use photons from the sun. It corresponds then to a force exerted by the photons on the sail, pushing thus forward it. This not only a fuel/propellant less method but is also capable of providing continuous thrust, making it possible to reach speeds unreachable by traditional rockets.
This is to be a small, inexpensive satellite called a CubeSat carrying the solar sail which makes it an ideal test platform for new technologies. The sail is made of a highly reflective material that produces the thrust force sunlight provides. Unfurled, the sail extends over an expansive area and works to capture solar radiation for pushing the CubeSat.
Mission Objectives
Its main purpose is to demonstrate that solar sails are a viable method for propelling spacecraft in space. If the spacecraft is able to deploy and guide it as planned, NASA wants to obtain a lot of performance data for future large sails. The data will be valuable for upcoming missions that may use solar sails and travel through deep space, including trips to distant asteroids, comets or potentially other star system.
A second major objective will be to test the deployment mechanism of the solar sail. The practical use of solar sails requires reliable deployment and control. The sensory lens will keep a close watch on how the sail behaves in space - interacting with solar wind, and what control strategies work best.
Potential Space Exploration Consequences in the Offing
This mission could be considered as a new age in space exploration. Solar sails are advantageous over conventional propulsion systems for many reasons. Because they deliver constant thrust without gasoline, ion drives are perfect for cruising over long distances, and if an experimental one pans out we could be looking at a cheaper lighter version of spacecraft that doesn't require heaving wads of petrol with it to where no buzzards fly.
IN MAGES, solar sails might make missions to places in space currently off-limits with ordinary propulsion possible. A spacecraft, for example fitted with a solar sail may get to the Pluto or even so as investigate the interstellar region. This opens the door to a completely new level of scientific investigation and discovery, which could possibly revolutionize our knowledge about universe.
Opportunities and Future Directions
As promising as solar sails may be, they pose a number of hurdles. A key problem is the deployment and tracking of the sail. In space, the sail is small but so are the forces that may nevertheless tilt the directions of both its supposed swing or path in a meaningful way. This makes developing scalable deployment and control methods for the sail absolutely critical to making this technology work.
